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Hunger + Poverty Issues

Only 1% of households in rural Ethiopia have access to electricity. Rema, a village 150 miles north of the capital city of Addis Ababa, is an exception: every household – that’s more than 5,500 residents – has electricity. The Solar Energy Foundation, with support from other donors, has installed solar panels on more than 2,000 rooftops.

Today, we face serious challenges to life on our planet. Increasing temperatures on the Earth’s surface are melting glaciers, ice and permafrost. Ocean temperatures are rising and affecting weather patterns, leading to more intense storms, flooding, sea level rise, heat waves, droughts, decreased food production, water scarcity and disease. Natural disasters exacerbated by human mismanagement are changing predictable seasonal weather patterns to becoming more and more unpredictable. These unpredictable weather patterns (rainfall, rising tides, increased droughts and flooding) are having very serious impacts on crop yields and water supplies

Increases in global temperature have caused many disruptions in human life around the Earth. Global warming has caused the rise in global temperatures, the risk of huge natural disasters, the spread of diseases, and the deaths of about 150,000 people annually according to the World Health Organization.

As implemented by the United Nations Charter, the purposes of the United Nations are to preserve international peace and security; to develop friendly relations among nations; to cooperate in solving international economic, social, cultural, and humane problems; to promote respect for human rights and freedoms; and to assist nations harmoniously in attaining these means. These purposes were emphasized in the United Nations Millennium Declaration of 2000.

The Catholic Church brings a distinct perspective to the debate about climate change by lifting up the moral dimensions of caring for God’s creation and the needs of the most vulnerable among us. Our Catholic faith calls on us to uphold the life and dignity of the human person by alleviating human suffering and promoting justice and solidarity worldwide.

Open letter sent to Director-General of UNESCO Koichiro Matsuura from Dr. Gabi Baramki and Dr. Carmela Armanios Omary, founding members of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.

In order to help poor countries reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the United States and other rich countries should do much more both in terms of the quantity and the quality of the development assistance they provide.